


The Highly-Debated Topic of Memes

by orphan_account



Series: The Highly Debated Topic of Memes [1]
Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Gen, Memes, just Guys being Dudes™
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-02
Updated: 2016-06-02
Packaged: 2018-07-11 18:18:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7064917
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Brainstorm discovers memes; Perceptor is unimpressed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Highly-Debated Topic of Memes

**Author's Note:**

> ["aliens" guy voice] MEMESTORM

Usually whenever screaming came from Brainstorm's lab ( however delighted it may have been ), one would run the  _other way_  - and, knowing the volatile nature of the jet's experiments, with good reason. It wasn't often Brainstorm would be laughing, though, and it was more than just his lab partner that was  _concerned_  with the behaviour, because who laughed while doing morally dubious scientific experiments that had the potential to rip apart the fabric of space and time?  **Evil geniuses**. Which, ignoring the super secret identity of his faction, he wasn't.

Despite how concerned the rest of the crew had been over this latest development, only Perceptor had the guts to check up on their resident errant engineer ( the phrasing of which confused him, because their specie didn't  _have_  guts; they had inner tubing and a fuel processing tank, but as far as he knew, that and the so-called guts were entirely separate things ).

After bypassing the lock ( which Brainstorm should really learn to  _use_ , if he wanted to stop being walked-in on ) and stepping inside almost hesitantly, Perceptor looked around to expect utter chaos; splintered test tubes laying around, the few bunsen burners they had remaining (  _not_  Brainstorm's fault ) wreaking havoc with their flames turned to full, and that positively  _ghastly_  space barnacle they had picked up over Hydrax VI's orbit running amok, crashing into table legs and causing irreparable damage ( well, not entirely irreparable; just a pain in the aft to fix ).

What he  _hadn't_  expected was - well.  _Not chaos_. Not a single bunsen was on, nor were any test tubes sporting new cracks, and the space barnacle was nowhere to be seen ( no doubt off causing havoc in the back room, but better to focus on the current situation ). Brainstorm, in his absence, seemed to have taken care of the lab  _and_  himself - a great feat, what with how nonexistent his safety measures were, and one Perceptor was all too happy to reward with another star on the sticker chart hanging on the back wall. Exhaling the breath he hadn't known he'd been holding, the microscope synthesized a cough to catch his partner's attention.

Brainstorm only acknowledged this with the offhand flick of one broad wing, entirely engrossed with whatever  _dastardly concoction_  he had displayed on the datapad screen; even with only his optics to show it, Perceptor had no reason to doubt that the jet was grinning ( it  _still_  caught him off guard how little facial features could be showing, and yet he could be so expressive; centuries of wearing a mask, he supposed ). A white thumb scrolled to what Perceptor could now recognize as an image, and an almost childish giggle bubbled up from the teal jet's voxcoder. Now, he decided, was the time to intervene.

"Brainstorm," he started, and already dread had started to sink into the pits of his fuel tank at the expected answer. " _what_  are you doing?"

The engineer in question finally broke his gaze from the datapad and turned to his fellow with a whingeing groan, setting it screen down on the bench and folding one leg over the other. " _Memes_ , Percy."

He made it sound as if it were  **obvious**.  Perceptor took pause, searching for the unfamiliar word in his databank, and returning his full attention to Brainstorm when it came up empty. "Again -  _what_?"

Optics rolled, the bulbs hidden behind yellow fiberglass cycling and pinpointing on the sniper. White servos met hips as Brainstorm stood, only being removed to grab the datapad ( because if words didn't work, then surely _showing_ him would? ) and lob it at Perceptor with an underhand toss.

"It's an Earth thing," he explained as Perceptor caught the object with practised ease and started scrolling; by the looks of it, he didn't find the topic as amusing as Brainstorm had. "Swerve showed them to me - after he dragged himself away from the projector, obviously. He's so into this _television_ thing it's hard to even get a drink these days without being roped into a conversation about one show or another."

"And most bots are happy to talk to him about his shows," Perceptor replied, gingerly setting the offending datapad down. "as most of them are good - unlike _some_ interests I could care to mention." The derisive look he sent the jet struck home, but Brainstorm looked unaffected; if anything, he only seemed prouder of his handiwork. With the screen no longer blank, he could clearly see what looked to be a sad anthropomorphic frog. Brainstorm gave a nod of approval, swallowing the laughter that threatened to burst out from the back of his throat. Instead, he responded in the most upset manner he could, giving his wings a melodramatic flutter.

"I came out here to have a good time," he started, "and I'm honestly feeling _so attacked_ right now! You _wound_ me, Percy, you really do."

A blue optic squinted, the reticle of his targeting patch spinning; Brainstorm was positively _wheezing_ with the effort to keep his laughter in check, despite his melodramatics, and doing a rather poor job of it. "Should I understand that reference?"

"If you were _cool_  you would understand." Brainstorm snipped the reply, though it held no real menace - only the promise of more laughter if he failed to understand further remarks. "Look, just- here. I'll show you how memes work, okay? You're _clearly_ not **hip with the cool kids**."


End file.
